Beverages, for example alcoholic beverages, sodas, concentrates and the like, are commonly supplied individually to consumers in bottles and typically glass bottles. However, glass bottles utilise space inefficiently when stacked, are relatively heavy and can be broken relatively easily when subjected to an impact. Therefore, they are not particularly suited to transportation. Furthermore, when a bottle is opened air is able to contact the beverage, which may result in the evaporation of the beverage and/or causing the beverage to degrade. For example, the alcohol in an alcoholic beverage will evaporate, thereby reducing the alcoholic content of the beverage. The air may also oxidise the alcohol such that the taste of the beverage changes.
Bag-in-box type containers commonly prevent air from contacting the beverage by comprising a one-way valve which allows beverage to flow out of, but prevents air from flowing into, the bag. However, such bag-in-box containers are not considered to be premium products by consumers and have, as a result, not replaced glass bottles as the typical beverage container. The bag-in-box type containers are also commonly very large (e.g. 3 to 5 litres) and are not suited to storing beverages, such as liquors, which are commonly supplied only in relatively small quantities (e.g. 1 litre). The box is also typically formed of cardboard or the like and thus has a relatively low structural strength. Therefore, they are not suited to vertical stacking in large numbers.